Arms of a Bad Dream
by It'sObviouslyAnEagle
Summary: Hermione Granger is assigned as the Healer of the unrecognizable comatose man that saved her life. As she begins to recognize him, her nightmares are brought to reality and the only one that can help her is the one who helped create them: Draco Malfoy. What ensues is the chance for reconciliation, tolerance, and the one thing that will break all barriers: love. DM/HG. EWE.


"Thank you, Harold. It's been a lovely evening." I stood up from my chair and placed the white napkin previously sitting in my lap on the tabletop.

"It's Hank, actually," the extremely thin man said after clearing his throat loudly.

I smiled as warmly as I could despite the circumstance. "My apologies, Hank. Thanks again for dinner."

Without waiting for an invitation for a second date or an answer for that matter, I turned on my heel and walked out of the restaurant towards my flat. Once outside, I let out a large sigh of relief and mentally cursed Ginevra freaking Potter.

Why on earth would she think that it was okay to set me up with a bloody accountant? Not that I'm against working with numbers, but really? A stereotypical accountant with zero ounce of personality and nothing to talk about but numbers? I guess that made me sort of a hypocrite because I was the same with books, but those were at least interesting. How did Ginny even know a Muggle?

I pinched the bridge of my nose to fight the oncoming headache I knew was assuredly approaching. It had been a pleasant day off of work, spent relaxing and reading. When the unavoidable 'date' came around though, the pleasantness of the day quickly died in a tuft of smoke. What was it with Ginny and trying to set me up with random men? Ever since I told her that Ron and I had gone separate ways, she'd sent me out on dates with every man in London, magical or non.

The streets of Muggle London were dark except for the orange glow cascading from the streetlights. It was practically silent as well. Neither was there any rain to beseech such a beautiful night. That's when I heard footsteps behind me that never ceased, no matter what way I turned.

Picking up my pace ever so slightly, I turned down the next alleyway in hopes of the footsteps going off in a completely different direction. Almost instinctively, I reached into my coat pocket and laced my fingers around the cool grip of my wand, just in case. After spending months on the run, protecting myself was sort of an immediate response to any situation.

Despite my efforts, the footsteps continued. I stopped suddenly and slowly craned my head around when the footsteps stopped as well. Before my eyes could adjust to the dim of the alley, there a fist shoved up my gut. It was suddenly gone, but just as quickly replaced with another punch to my side. I fell to the ground, groaning and feeling nothing but a consuming pain emanating all over my body.

A strong boot lurched itself into my back. "Stop!" I tried to yell, but it was to no avail, as the only sound that came out was a gurgle. Brute force rolled me onto my bruised back, causing me to hiss in pain, which only seemed to egg the attacked on as he put all of his weight on my chest and began pummeling my face in.

My eyes were closed up until then, so I tried to open them to see the eyes of the man who would most assuredly kill me. I tried to wiggle my fingers to reach my wand, but they were firmly pinned at my sides.

"Stop!" I tried again. "Help!" But nobody heard me, or chose to acknowledge me because nobody came.

"Please," I begged in a rough voice, "Just please stop."

The man simply laughed in my face and continued to beat me. My eyes went blurry and I started seeing black spots. I didn't have the voice to plead for my life any longer. Death became inevitable. That is, until suddenly the man's weight was gone from me.

In my blurred vision, I saw a tall man pull the assailant from my body and begin pummeling him. My savior seemed to land a few good punches, but my assailant definitely had the upper-hand as I watched helplessly from the ground, immobile. The brawl between them seemed to escalate, but I was frozen on the ground, looking on the destruction taking place.

After what seemed like a long time, a pale face came into my view. I could hear bits of words like, "Hermione" and "no" coming from the angel, but they were lost in the deafening silence of my head.

My vision doubled and swirled together, forming a cloudy picture that was incomprehensible to my inebriated mind. Suddenly I felt my entire being pushed and shoved through space and could only see a streak of white. Then everything went black and I felt the pain no longer.


End file.
